“No. I just need a moment.”

She walked away and I took a seat on the bench that sat against the wall in the airport bathroom. If Simon was coming for me, he couldn’t come in here. I waited until I heard the boarding call for my flight. I sat down in the seat, and as soon as the plane took off, I placed the pillow against the window and closed my eyes.

****

I stepped into the apartment, ready to collapse, when G emerged from the kitchen.

“Gabby, what the hell?” She ran over to me.

I grabbed her arms for support and slowly fell to the ground. She followed and wrapped her arms around me.

“What happened?”

“It’s over between me and Simon and I never want to see him again.” I sobbed.

“What did he do? Did he hurt you?”

“In the worst way possible.”

Donovan came out of the bedroom and knelt down beside me, placing his hand on my arm.

“Come on; let’s get you to your room.”

They both helped me up and hung on to me as they led me down the hall to my bedroom.

“Talk to me, Gabby. Tell me what he did. Do I need to call the police?”

I shook my head. “He didn’t physically hurt me.”

I tried to explain what happened, but I wasn’t so sure how much they could understand because I was hysterical. I grabbed G by the shirt and looked at her, my eyes opened wide.

“G, I have to stop the pain. Please, just this once. I have to stop it. It hurts so bad.”

“Gabby, no. You need to stay strong. You can’t substitute one pain for another. You know that.”

“Please, G, please.” I had lost all control as I gripped her arms as tight as I could. “You don’t know what’s like. You could never understand. I’m numb.”

“Listen to me!” she yelled as she lightly shook me. “You’re going to wait. Okay. Fifteen minutes, Gabby. Just fifteen minutes.”

Donovan walked back into the room and placed something in her hand.

“Gabby, take this.” She held up a small blue pill. “It’s a Valium and, right now, you need it. Take this and we’ll wait fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes if you still feel the urge, then you can make yourself feel better. Okay?” She slowly nodded her head.

“Okay. Fifteen minutes,” I said with tears streaming down my face. I took the pill from her, popped it in my mouth, and took a sip of water. It wasn’t too long before it started to take effect. I fell asleep.

Chapter 29

I awoke to the faint sound of voices. My eyes were swollen shut and my head was pounding like I was severely hung over.

“Giana, please. Just let me talk to her. I need to see for myself if she’s okay.”